A Great Wall?

But promoting economic development in Mexico, won't stop undocumented immigration overnight. And it won't address the problem that 11 million people are already here without legal status. This is why the president and the Senate have been trying to find a legal option, like a temporary guest-worker program, to bring migrants who are already here out of the shadows. Many people resist this idea because they see it as rewarding criminal behavior with amnesty. But, in fact, as currently envisioned a guest-worker initiative would actually require undocumented immigrants to either return home or pay a fine in order to obtain legal status. More importantly, I think, it is important to recognize that virtually all crimes, except murder, have a statute of limitations—essentially an amnesty—after which they are not punished. In many cases, the statute of limitation passes after just a few years. So America needs to ask itself what should be the statute of limitations for illegal entry to find work in the United States.

What are some of the environmental concerns about the fence?

The major environmental concern is that the construction of the fencing will contribute to ecological degradation in the already endangered and fragile desert ecosystems and riversheds of the border region. Environmental organizations have had their hands tied because the Department of Homeland Security has had free range to prioritize border security over the environment, and there are virtually no legal channels to challenge the impacts of its projects along the border. Here in San Diego, the DHS is essentially leveling a significant portion of the natural environment in order to complete 14 miles of fencing.

Symbolically, what does this fence represent to you?

For me, the fence symbolizes the past. From the Mongols to the cold war, people have tried to contain their fears and enemies with walls. At the end of the last century, we thought all the walls were going to come down. Indeed, building walls and fortifying borders in the era of globalization and economic integration holds inherent contradictions and promises little in the way of effectiveness. Walls may be useful for blocking large, land-based armies, but are probably useless for combating terrorism. We're in a new era with new problems, but we keep coming up with old solutions.

© 2006